Reynolds, a Texan, simply read what Southern newspapers were writing in the final year or so before the war began. Through thousands of articles in hundreds of papers, Reynolds showed that southern editors talked big about remaining in the union, provided northerners suppressed abolitionism and refrained from electing anyone who favored hindering the expansion of slavery into newly-acquired western territories. Once they realized that the Republican Party came to represent much of northern opinion, southerners felt their slave-based economy and lifestyle was threatened. Led by South Carolina--then a black-majority state--the south seceded rather than risk losing the slave-based society. This book takes the post-war revisionism--that the secession was about tariffs and constitutional abstractions and not slavery--and exposes it all as bunk. As this book shows through the multitude of newspapers and political speeches of the time--southern voices all--the south was obsessed with slavery, to the point of fetishism. Editors thought nothing of threatening the lives of those who disagreed with their hard-line, abolition-hating views. Many called for the lynching of suspected abolitionists, which is exactly what happened repeatedly during the summer of 1860. Reynolds argues at the end that editors contributed to the enthusiasm for disunion in the south. I might argue with that. I believe the editors, most of whom were desperate for a paying readership, simply went with the (white) mood of the times. Like their political representatives, those who were located in areas with many slaves favored secession, and those in areas with few slaves (western Virginia, eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina) were either tepid supporters or outright opponents of secession. Much as they would like to, modern southern partisans cannot argue with the words--and deeds--of their forbears. It needs to be said bluntly and without ambiguity--had there been no slavery, there would have been no mass secession and no war. The South said as much in its own words, on paper, thousands of times over. Yes, there was tremendous Northern hypocrisy and cruelty in the way the North waged war. But the sins of your enemies does not absolve you of your own wickedness. Something to remember before flying the Confederate flag in full view of black Americans. This book needs to be required reading in all journalism schools.

Residential and Light Commercial Construction Standards is a great book when trying to avoid disputes about various construction standards. It covers everything from asphalt paving; concrete; masonry; finish capentry; cabinetry; and many more.

I think this is an excellent book for, first, students and neophytes to learn some standard detailing and systems, and second, novice construction administrators and contractors needing help with some standard practices they might not have seen or know the whole ins and outs of. I will admit that it is not at a beginner level, and you do need some familiarity with construction to understand all of its articles, but the list of contributing editors is a who's who of construction standards, most of them being some sort of expert, whether they serve on buiding code commitees or are esteemed lecturers and each with multiple decades of experience.

The book is divided almost into the cooresponding CSI divisions it deals with. Each section starts out with a great blurb (titled "Common Defect Allegations") about what is to be expected when dealing with particular system. These are especially helpful to generalize a decision about masonry walls vs. concrete, and so on. What really excited me about this book was that in each building system article, there are the cooresponding UBC entries included with the hard to understand ones diagramed out (Like typical distance requirements for light fixtures around a shower or where you need a GFCI plug in your bathroom)

This is a necessary reference for construction and design professionals already in the field. More experienced professionals might find it more useful as a quick reference so they don't have to remember all the code issues and standards for a particular building system. This IS light commercial and residential construction, this book is missing all the steel erection, shoring, heavy concrete, etc. systems. I have found those books, though.

My fiance is an architecture student and although we didn't but the book here it is a great reference to her school work. If she ever has a question concerning framing all she has to do is look it up in this book and all here questions are answered. This is a great book and we recommend it to anybody in the architecture field.